Teachers from G.D. Rogers Garden Elementary School in Bradenton, Fla., are under fire after their offensive Facebook discussion was found by a parent and sent to Bay News 9.
"I'm fairly convinced that one of my students may be the evolutionary link between orangutans and humans," one of the teacher's wrote, according to the conversation obtained by the station.
In response, another teacher commented saying the statement made them "laugh out loud," and asked to know which student they were referring to.
"W.W. Does that help?" the teacher responded.
Once the school registrar chastised them in the Facebook thread, however, the discussion stopped and was deleted, Bay News 9 reports.
"I'm disgusted with how they talked about my child," Lisa Wade, the parent of "W.W.," told the station. "It hurts."
While the school has apologized and hopes to implement a social media policy next year, Wade has obtained a lawyer -- telling the station she wants "at least one person held accountable."
The community outrage comes in the wake of several other incidences of teachers being disciplined for the things they write on social media sites.
Last year, a first grade teacher at Paterson School 21 in Paterson, N.J., was suspended after writing on Facebook that she felt like a "warden," and referred to students as future criminals. According to Board of Education President Theodore Best, officials cannot remove a teacher for what they say on their Facebook page. If, however, what they say spills over into the classroom, the school can take action.
A few weeks earlier in Doylestown, Pa., Central Bucks East High School's English teacher Natalie Munroe was suspended for blogging about her students and referring to them as "disengaged, lazy whiners."
Other comments on the blog were more offensive.
"I hear the trash company is hiring" and "I called out sick a couple of days just to avoid your son" were two that caused the most controversy in the community.
After her suspension, Munroe was reinstated at the school because she had a "legal right to her job," but was fired last week for poor performance.
